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Welcoming Ireland's new citizens

Since taking office, Justice Minister Alan Shatter has granted citizenship to almost 28,000 applicants. MerrionStreet.ie attended one of the most recent citizenship ceremonies, held in the Convention Centre Dublin.  

Introduced in June of last year as a major celebratory event in the citizenship process, Citizenship Ceremonies have also played a pivotal role in addressing the backlog of citizenship applications.

The ceremony featured here, which saw 4,000 new citizens receive their certificate of naturalisation, took place almost a year since the first Citizenship Ceremony in June of 2011, when just 73 people were awarded Irish citizenship.

Speaking at the ceremony, Minister Shatter said:

This ceremony on the award of citizenship marks in a very public way one of the very potent and powerful manifestations of our independence as a nation.

The history of this State is now your history and the narrative of your life is now part of our history. For those of you granted citizenship today your future is now interwoven with the future of this State, its citizens across the globe and, in particular, all of us who live on this island.

Watch the video feature below....